পৃষ্ঠা:অসমীয়া ব্যাকৰণ আৰু ভাষাতত্ত্ব.djvu/১১৪

SECTION TV CONCLUSION The Assamese language is spoken over an area of 23,932 square miles covered by the six districts of the Assam Valley-Goalpara, Kamrup, Nowgong, Darrang, Sibsagar and Lakhimpur-which formed the Province of Assam soon after the assumption of charge of the country by the British Government in 1826. According to the Census of 1931 Assamese is spoken by 19,94,564 or nearly 2 millions of people. Some dispute the correctness of this figure. However, the question is-whether with so few speakers the Assamese language has any chance of continuing its life or is destined to die. It is known that extraneous influence is unconsciously at work towards its destruction. Foreigners are coming into Assam in quest of employment or land. The very extensive and rich literature of the adjoining province, Bengal, as is natural, is finding its way into the remotest corners of Assam and silently and imperceptibly but firmly and peacefully replacing the civilization, culture, religion and language of Assam by its own. This process has been accelerated by various circumstances and it is doubtful if the language would eventually survive. To keep it alive some means will have to be devised. Some suggest a change of the script. It is to be considered whether this is necessary. | The language is very ancient and rich. We have already noticed the ancient Assamese words and names as used in the copper plate ins- criptions between the seventh and twelfth centuries A.D. The Chinese traveller, Hiuen Tsians, found the Assamese language in a developed form in the seventh century AD. We have also noticed above the extensive Assamese classics of the period between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D. The classical Assamese literature was highly developed and there is a vast difference between classical and modern Assamese. Another evidence of antiquity consists in the extraordinary copiousness of the Assamese vocabularly and rammatical forms and in the etreme phonetic changes of the Tadbhavas. I give below a list of 109 words of primary importance with penali quivalents as far as possible for comparison:- English Father Mother Man woman Husband Wie Son Assamese Pits, bori, deut | Ai, ii, T ••• Mat, munh: ... Maik, tw, tirus Pat, cinek in Gan ... Bengal Hta, ba১৫ Ma Manu Stilo Mad S• s Pola, putr ••• Po, putekber. " 1 The Tatsamas are marked with an aeria.